UK offense far ahead, Johnson and Barker praised

Kentucky quarterbacks coach Darin Hinshaw said following Tuesday's practice that the Wildcats' offense is far ahead of where it was a year ago at this time.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The Kentucky offense is far ahead of where it was a year ago at this time. That was the way quarterback coach Darin Hinshaw described it after UK's Tuesday practice.

Hinshaw said quarterback Stephen Johnson is now hitting intermediate passes after a change in his throwing motion.

"Don't drop it down," said Hinshaw. "The longer the motion the more inaccuracies you're going to have and he's really worked at it. Does he still have issues? Yes, but we're continuing to work through them. He's much more accurate this camp than he was last camp."

"One thing I struggled with last year, dropping the ball down and bringing it all the way back up to throw," said Johnson. "We've been trying to cut that out a lot recently, really over the spring and over the summer and I mean now that's really helped me hit those intermediate passes."

Offensive coordinator Eddie Gran said quarterback Drew Barker is back in form after back surgery. Gran said there's no difference between the Barker he sees now and the one that earned the starting quarterback job last year.

“I don’t. That’s been really encouraging. He’s doing everything right,” Gran said. “Coach Hinshaw is doing a great job of getting him doing grass drills, some stuff where he’s actually going and twisting and getting on the ground, without him being hit. It’s been really good so far.”